Sen. Paul fears diplomacy with Iran may be 'gone for a lifetime' after Soleimani strike
Republican Sen. Rand Paul says on 'America's Newsroom' that killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani will likely lead to more killing and has made diplomatic relations with the regime 'impossible.'
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday that he fears diplomacy with Iran may be “gone for a lifetime” after the death of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Trump.
Paul, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, made the statement shortly after the Trump administration defended Soleimani’s killing by saying the strike helped protect American lives.
Paul said on Tuesday, “I think the thing is you have to ask yourself and ask the general question, 'Are attacks more or less likely now that Soleimani is gone?'”
Iran has issued a series of threats to the U.S. after Soleimani was killed. In fact, Esmail Ghaani, the Iranian general taking over for Soleimani, told state television Monday that “actions will be taken” to revenge the death of his predecessor.
IRAN VOWS 'HARSH RETALIATION' AFTER US AIRSTRIKE KILLS IRANIAN GEN. QASSEM SOLEIMANI
“The person who has replaced him has been his [Soleimani’s] assistant general for 22 years, is a hard-liner, and now the whole country of Iran is consumed with revenge,” Paul said.
“So I think if you’re asking yourself, "Will there be attacks on America?" I think there’s [sic] much more likely to be attacks now with his death.
“You also have to ask, if anybody thinks that there's a possibility that diplomacy would work, how it’s going to work when you kill the major general of another country? So I think what we’ve done is taken diplomacy off the table, and the only possibility now is military escalation,” he continued. “It's unknown how much military escalation, but I think there will be an escalation.”
When asked if there was even diplomacy to begin with, Paul answered, “There was with the Iran agreement.”
On Sunday, Iranian officials said the rogue nation no longer would abide by any of the limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018, a decision that was met with disappointment by allies at the U.N., where the deal was codified. The U.S. then reinstated waves of sanctions on the regime and has called for other countries to join as part of what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called a “coalition of responsible nations.”
“The Iran agreement wasn't perfect and I was a critic of the Iran agreement, however, I think it was a big mistake to pull out of the Iran agreement,” Paul said.
“We should have tried to build upon the Iran agreement. We did that, but then we placed an embargo where Iran was not allowed to sell any goods internationally, including their main export of oil. An active embargo is like an act of war and then to top that off, we've now killed one of their major generals.”
He went on to say, “I think it is the death of diplomacy and I see no way to get it back started again until--sort of--the revenge of the Iranian people is somehow sated.”
Paul said “I hate this” and noted that “there was much less killing, there was much less violence after the Iran agreement."
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“In fact, there was a lull in a period in which I think we were headed towards a much more stable situation with Iran and now I think it’s gone and I think it may be gone for a lifetime,” he continued.
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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